Unitus Community CU will move into Bridgeport Center, the first of its "Distributed Administrative Network" facilities, in 2024. (Photo: Unitus Community CU)
An Oregon credit union has big plans to shift to a new strategic operating model that will support its mix of remote, hybrid and onsite employees.
The $1.7 billion, Portland, Ore.-based Unitus Community Credit Union announced last week that it will vacate its leased downtown Portland headquarters at 1300 SW 6th Ave., and transition staff to its first "Distributed Administrative Network" facility approximately 10 miles south in the suburban city of Tigard, Ore., in 2024. The new location, an 89,610-square-foot facility called Bridgeport Center, will be the first of multiple new locations in different geographic areas to open in the next 36 to 48 months.
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Bridgeport Center is also located less than a mile from a new Unitus Community branch, scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2022 at Bridgeport Village, an upscale outdoor shopping mall. In addition, the credit union will be moving its downtown Portland Plaza Branch to another downtown location and is currently evaluating potential spaces, Unitus Community said.
According to the credit union, the decision to open the Bridgeport Center facility came after years of discussion, surveys, evaluation and planning, and that in addition to supporting employee flexibility, the move will create long-term value for the credit union's membership by reducing overall operating costs.
Steven Stapp "This first location in our Distributed Administrative Network is in a geographic location that will reduce commute and environmental impacts for our staff," Unitus Community President/CEO Steven Stapp stated. "It also affords us the opportunity to offset our footprint with onsite wetlands and operational systems that are environmentally friendly and controlled onsite."
A Unitus Community spokesperson added that one benefit of the location is its convenient access to multiple freeways and public transportation options, and that while employees live all around the Portland Metro area, Southwest Washington State and even 50 miles south in Salem, Ore., the new facility will serve as an option for all employees.
"As additional facilities open in phases, employees will be able to choose the location that works best for them when working onsite or hybrid," according to the spokesperson, who also noted that some non-branch credit union employees have already begun working from a Unitus Community location in Vancouver, Wash., just across the state border about nine miles north of Portland.
Approximately 20% of Unitus Community's employees work onsite full-time, 20% work remotely full-time and 60% follow a hybrid schedule, according to the spokesperson.
While the credit union did not yet have specific interior design details to share for Bridgeport Center and future Distributed Administrative Network facilities, the spokesperson said it will be spending the next few months programming the Bridgeport Center, and that its goal is to create spaces that are creative, innovative and collaborative – features that are not available at its current headquarters and that employees have requested.
"This new operational model allows Unitus to create an activity-based working environment, where employees can work out of different types of spaces over the course of a day or week. This gives employees the ability to choose how they work best," Stapp stated, adding, "We're looking forward to bringing new facilities online to better serve our staff, members and community partners. This strategic shift to multiple administrative facilities is a direct response to the organization's changing needs around flexibility, collaborative spaces, and employee engagement and well-being."
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
